Study Struggles

Ladies, as much as we would all love to be on top of our studies all of the time, there comes a time in every girl’s education when that ever-mounting work load gets too heavy. Whether you have exams coming up, or you have just been given five Jane Austen novels to read in a week, we all have a tough time every so often.

The right environment; I for one know that I have to be in the perfect environment in order to get through any work at all. If I’m sitting in my room with music blaring and plenty of things to distract myself with, such as chatty housemates and Facebook, then nothing is going to get done. However, give me a well-lit, quiet library with access to any books or resources I might need, and I can power through that workload like a champion. It could be a library, the local study room or a coffee house but if you make sure that you have the right head space you’ll achieve a lot more. Get to know your own work patterns and where you work best, you can’t go wrong.

Music; Another tactic I swear by is classical music or any music without lyrics. For me nothing helps me concentrate better and work at a good pace than the Amelie soundtrack, but for those of you that see finally getting down to work on that essay as a little more epic, I know plenty of students who opt for something more along the lines of Lord of the Rings! It is important that you don’t choose music with lyrics though, as this has the opposite effect: your brain will be concentrating on listening and singing along to the words, and get completely distracted from the task! Honestly ladies, once you get into the flow and rhythm of, say, Chopin, you’ll get into the flow of your essay too!

Manage your time; Write down all of your deadlines in your diary so you have enough time to spend on each assignment. Plan your study time effectively by working for an hour, and having a break for up to 15 minutes to achieve better results while studying.

Be effective ;After each lecture, try to read through any notes you have made, and then write them up in more detail, maybe adding in any of your individual research or thoughts on the subject. Also, make your notes stand out more by using colour coding and, if you think it will help, more visual ways of displaying notes, such as mental maps or bullet points. Many people agree with me that writing your notes out a second time, either by hand or on the computer, will make you more likely to remember them, so this tactic is especially helpful if you’re preparing for an exam and have lots of information and ideas to remember.

Study groups; When you are struggling or find yourself at an obstacle, your friends are the perfect people to help you through it. You can all motivate each other at your house or you can meet in the library, and you can all share yummy snacks too!

You get the idea: it will be done in no time as long as you are properly prepared. So girls, don’t stress: keep calm and pace your way through that work load!